St. Louis Cardinals legend and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols reached another historic milestone Saturday afternoon. When he replaced the injured Corey Dickerson in Cardinals’ 6-1 matinee loss to the Chicago Cubs, Pujols became only the 10th player in MLB history to appear in 3,000 major league games.
Here is the all-time games played leaderboard:
- Pete Rose: 3,562
- Carl Yastrzemski: 3,308
- Hank Aaron: 3,298
- Rickey Henderson: 3,081
- Ty Cobb: 3,034
- Eddie Murray: 3,026
- Stan Musial: 3,026
- Willie Mays: 3,005
- Cal Ripken Jr.: 3,001
- Albert Pujols: 3,000 and counting
Including the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Cardinals have 109 games remaining this season, so Pujols could climb as high as fourth on the games played list before the end of the year. Pujols has said he will retire following the season.
The Cardinals brought Pujols back this season as a platoon bat and veteran mentor. He has appeared in 29 of the team’s first 53 games, putting him on pace to finish the season with 89 appearances. At that pace, Pujols would finish the year with 3,060 career games played, good for fifth all-time.
Only three other active players came into Saturday with as many as 2,000 career games played: Miguel Cabrera (2,631), Robinson Canó (2,258), and Yadier Molina (2,177). Cano was released by the San Diego Padres earlier this week and is not certain to sign with another team. Molina is planning to retire after the season, and Cabrera is under contract through 2023.
Pujols started Saturday afternoon’s game on the bench. He entered in the second inning after Dickerson exited the game with a calf injury. Pujols, 42, took a .210/.327/.383 batting line into Saturday’s game, then went 0 for 3 with a walk.
